Prince Harry has paid tribute to a team of wounded British servicemen forced to abandon their expedition to climb Mount Everest over serious safety concerns resulting from unseasonably warm weather.

Prince Harry accepts his award from former US secretary of state Colin Powell (Picture: PA)

The royal, himself a captain in the army and a patron of the Walking with the Wounded charity, announced the news while accepting a humanitarian award in Washington DC for his and his brother’s work with injured servicemen and women.

The five current and former soldiers had been forced to abandon their bid after a lack of snow on the mountain saw rocks loosening and an increased risk of avalanches.

A charity spokesman said the 8,848m (29,028ft) mountain had become a ‘death trap’ and further attempts to ascend it had been rendered ‘impossible’.

Prince Harry meets wounded servicemen during a reception in the British ambassador’s residence in Washington (Picture: EPA)

‘Last year, I struggled to keep up with the four British soldiers whom I joined for part of their expedition to walk to the North Pole,’ Prince Harry announced after accepting an award from the Atlantic Council last night.

‘Each of these men had recently been gravely wounded on the battlefields of Afghanistan. Theirs was the fastest team to reach the Pole that season.

‘At this very moment, another team of our wounded are returning from Mount Everest.

‘Sadly, I have to be the first to say they have been frustrated from reaching the summit by the unusually warm weather, which brings particularly dangerous conditions. However, the mere fact that they are up there on that fearsome peak, I find totally amazing.’

Expedition leader Russell Brice, who has 25 years’ worth of experience climbing Everest, said: ‘I’ve never seen conditions like this before – the mountain is in a very critical condition indeed.’

The team had arrived in Nepal at the end of March and planned to reach the summit by the end of this month.

However, they will now fly back to the UK later this week after a planned broadcast from Everest.

Charity co-founder Edward Parker said: ‘The decision not to aim for the summit was not an easy one, but it is the right decision to be made.

‘The team are very low as they have worked so hard over the last nine months to achieve the target, but they do understand why we have made this decision and they were involved in the process.’

The expedition team pictured earlier this month (Picture: PA)

The team was led by Martin Hewett, 31, from Widnes in Cheshire, a former captain in the Parachute Regiment whose right arm was paralysed when he was shot twice through the shoulder in Afghanistan in 2007.

Joining him on the expedition were Captain Francis Atkinson, Captain David Wiseman, Private Jaco van Gass and former private Karl Hinett.

The team had been climbing Everest to raise money for other injured servicemen and women to help them readjust to civilian life.